How to check for mold inside your home?

Are you getting sick a lot while staying at home?
Do you feel better when you leave home or at your work/office?
Do you feel the humidity in the air at your home?
Do you smell any dampness or mildew odor at your home?

If you answered yes to one of these questions, there is a possibility that your house affected with mold.
If you think that your home is affected with mold, you can perform visual mold inspection. You can also hire a mold inspection company to come in and perform the job for you. Keep in mind that there are molds that are visible and there are those that are not visible to the naked eye.
So, if you decided to perform the inspection by yourself, you would ask yourself-Where do I start?
First of all, try to use your nose and inspect your home by using your sense of smell. The mildew odor will get stronger as you get closer to the source of the mold.

Where should I expect to find the source? Well, this is a good question with several answers. Mold will be typically found in the following areas:

Use a flashlight and pay attention to areas that are dump and with less sunlight.

2. Go to your basement, or crawl at your crawl space, and try to detect if there is any mold or dry rotten on the structural components of your home/property (Studs, beams, sub-floor).

Look at the soil in the basement/crawl space. If it’s too dump or already has mildew (white or yellow) growing on it.

Look under every sink around the property (Kitchen, bathrooms). Do you see any black spots on the wood cabinet or on the drywall? Do you smell stronger mildew and dampness odor under any sink?

Look inside closets. Move the clothes or any item that is against the wall inside the closet and check the drywall. Do you see any black or grey mold spots on the drywall or on the clothes? Do you smell stronger mildew odor inside the closet?

Look behind any piece of furniture, especially if it has less than 2 ft. gap from the wall. Is there any green spot (look like green dust) on the back of the piece? Is there any spot of mold on the wall?

Lift any bed mattress. Look around the inside wood frame of your bed. Look at the back of the mattress. Do you see any stain on the mattress? Is your mattress smell bad?

Move your refrigerator and look at the drywall behind, especially if you have ice maker or cold water build-in, in the refrigerator. Sometimes the pipe behind might leak.

Look at the ceiling, especially in showers. The steam and moisture that attached to the ceiling can keep it wet and grow mold.

Look at any area nearby pipeline or source of water. Standing water or any leak will create mold problem.

So you looked around and you didn’t find anything? Sometimes mold did not colonize yet. It is air born in higher levels, which create elevated condition for mold to colonized and grow. High levels of mold spores can affect your health and you wouldn’t even know that.

In order to make an air quality test, or mold testing, please contact Swift Restoration Company, at (408) 624-2037, or email us at swift@swiftrestorationinc.com .
Using state of the art mold testing equipment, Swift Restoration Company technician will arrive and take air samples or swab samples from your property. One air sample will be taken from outside of the property and the second one from the suspected area. Both air samples will be taken to a lab and compared. Higher levels of spores inside comparing to the outside sample will confirm mold spores in high levels at your home.

Swift Restoration Company is offering FREE ON-SITE MOLD INSPECTION by one of our IICRC trained inspectors. The inspector will go over all the suspected areas around the house and will use moisture meter detector to try and detect any wet material like drywall, carpet, hardwood floor.